Argentina: Public Health in Urban Environments

Investigate public health policy, epidemiology, and issues of equity and access in Buenos Aires — one of Latin America’s largest cities.

View a video about ISALUD University,
the program's primary partner.

This program will provide students interested in public health, health sciences, development studies, and other disciplines with the opportunity to scrutinize health-related challenges in urban environments. Students will learn from academics and practitioners associated with leading institutions in Argentina.

Major topics of study include:

Social determinants of health
Chronic diseases in urban environments
Intercultural barriers to quality care
The political process of defining a public health agenda
Health needs specific to urban environments

Learn from Argentine health experts, authorities, and advocates.
The program will be based at ISALUD University, Argentina’s primary academic institution for public and private health managers and stakeholders. In addition to ISALUD faculty, program lecturers will include academics from Arturo Jauretche National University (AJNU) and practitioners from Hospital El Cruce.

In order to encounter myriad perspectives on urban health-related challenges, students will engage with a diversity of Argentine healthcare service providers and civil society advocates, as well as university medical students.

Culture and language immersion
The program will likely include a community stay in the municipality of Florencio Varela as well as an excursion to Tucumán in northern Argentina, Mendoza in the west, and/or to Neuquen in southern Argentina.

Students will live with a homestay family in Buenos Aires for most of the semester. The program’s intensive language course will take place at the University of Buenos Aires’ Language Laboratory.

Public health in Argentina
This program offers an academic, culturally immersive exploration of how living in urban areas can shape health conditions, from the particular vantage point of Argentina’s capital city. Today, Argentina continues to face traditional health risks—including those linked to unsafe water, inadequate nutrition, and poor sanitation—while grappling with escalating rates of chronic disease.

The program looks at Argentina’s epidemiological profile and health system from a comparative perspective. The healthcare system in Argentina shares similar challenges with the US system in that Argentina has an analogous epidemiological profile, is impacted by comparable migration processes, and struggles with unequal access to good care. Argentina’s public health system provides free healthcare as a result of the country’s well-developed social security system, which is composed of private healthcare providers and public services.

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Credits: 16

Duration: 15 weeks

Program Base: Argentina, Buenos Aires

Language Study: Spanish

Prerequisites: Three college semesters of Spanish and relevant coursework Read more...

View Student Evaluations for this program:

About the Evaluations (PDF)

Fall 2012 Evaluations (PDF)

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